Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was briefed by US President Donald Trump’s special envoys following their latest trip to Moscow and said the two Americans were working on plans for a follow-up visit to Kyiv in the near future.
Meanwhile, while Russian President Vladimir Putin was in Bishkek to attend a regional summit, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov made a surprise visit to a G20 finance meeting in North Carolina, with some participants expressing anger over the appearance of the country’s representative while it is at war with Ukraine.
While the Ukraine battlefield remained relatively calm throughout the day, diplomatic activity took the spotlight on August 31.
Trump has confirmed he will send envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Kyiv in the coming weeks in what will mark their first visit to Ukraine since taking leading roles in the administration's efforts to end Russia's full-scale invasion.
Witkoff and Kushner have traveled to Moscow and met with Russian representatives in the US multiple times during Trump's second term, fueling some criticism that the administration has shown favoritism toward Putin and the Kremlin.
"We will see what the US president’s envoys can accomplish," Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram after holding a "detailed and constructive" call with the two.
"September can change a lot, and together with our partners, we must do everything possible to protect people, protect lives, and achieve peace."
"There needs to be the right mindset in Moscow -- from Putin, a mindset to end the war, not to keep fighting. For now, unfortunately, all the intel -- both ours and our partners’ -- and all the signals from Russia indicate that the Russian leader personally wants more war," Zelenskyy wrote.
Not 'Normal'
Meanwhile, in Asheville, North Carolina, Russia's Siluanov attended his first G20 gathering since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and the country's exclusion from such gatherings.
Trump has spoken often about returning Russia to international groupings, such as the Group of 7 (G7) industrialized nations in the face of vehement opposition from most other member nations.
The G20 is comprised of 19 countries and the European Union, and accounts for around 85 percent of the world's economy and two-thirds of its population
German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said the situation with Russia was not "normal" and expressed frustration that there was no forewarning of Siluanov's participation.
"People are dying every day. We have just seen another escalation in the [Russian] attacks," Klingbeil said. "You cannot simply return to normality."
“I find the signal sent by receiving the Russian finance minister here quite troubling," Klingbeil told reporters in Asheville. "I would have wanted greater clarity from the American side that he should not be received here as a normal guest."
Officials from European countries told Reuters that European ministers and central bankers opposed appearing in the normal "family photo" of participants. It was then decided to take the photograph without Siluanov's involvement.
At a meeting of G20 finance ministers in 2022 that Siluanov attended remotely, the United States under then-President Joe Biden led a multinational group in a walkout as Russian officials spoke.
Asked about Siluanov's attendance this time, White House spokesman Kush Desai told AFP that the US administration has been working with Moscow to push for a deal that "would stop the endless bloodshed that the president has really condemned."
"The president and the administration will never shy away from talking with the folks we need to talk to, to further that," he said. "That's what we're working on here at the G20."
Russia’s Finance Ministry said Siluanov and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent held bilateral talks to discuss Russia-US cooperation on financial issues and interaction within the framework of the G20.
A US official told AFP that the Treasury chief advocated for Trump's peace plan for Ukraine during the face-to-face meeting.
